


Can Keith do Anything that Doesn't End in a Knife Fight (No).

by gingayellow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 11:16:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7359037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith just wanted to go on a date with his boyfriend. [Shiro/Keith, pre-series, content warnings for violence, knife fights, and parental death mentions]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can Keith do Anything that Doesn't End in a Knife Fight (No).

**Author's Note:**

> For hc_bingo, the prompt is "loss of possessions." Pre-series.

Title: Can Keith do Anything that Doesn't End in a Knife Fight (No).  
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender  
Characters/Pairing: Shiro/Keith  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: Some violence, knife fights, canonical parental death mention  
Notes: For hc_bingo, the prompt is "loss of possessions." Pre-series.

Keith didn’t know why he was here.

Actually, no. He knew very well why he was here. Shiro—the first person that made his gut twist—had invited him out for a quick dinner after training. Keith usually preferred to eat in his quarters, and had been about to remind Shiro of that… except Shiro had smiled so kindly, and said something about how it might be nice to spend alone time, that Keith found himself agreeing.

And now here he was, in a crowded restaurant, eating all the bread rolls while he waited for his date to return (Shiro’s mother had called, something about the family dog finally having her puppies, and Shiro had been very polite as he excused himself temporarily).

Keith stuffed the last roll in his mouth. He had already finished his sandwich, but he was still hungry. Shiro’s burger was defenseless, but he wasn’t that evil. He’d just ask for more rolls when the server returned.

But it wasn’t all bad. Yeah, the restaurant was crowded and too noisy for his liking. But it was a nice change, to eat food that wasn’t from the cafeteria, and to have Shiro (mostly) to himself. Especially the part about Shiro. Maybe his luck was finally beginning to improve—

The hand on Keith’s shoulder was too heavy, and too cold to be Shiro. He looked up, and the face was still too familiar for Keith’s liking.

“Kogane,” he said simply.

Keith felt a familiar heat rise up in him… but then he pushed it down. He wasn’t going to give in, not while Shiro was here. For once, he was going to be the bigger person. “Go away.”

“You embarrassed me.” He tightened his grip on Keith’s shoulder. “Do you really think I’m gonna let that slide?”

He supposed not. “Fine. Let’s go.” Better to get this over with, otherwise he’d make a scene. He didn’t want to worry Shiro.

\--

“Be sure to send me pics of Reiko and the babies, okay? And send Dad and Ryou my love. Mm. Love you, too. Bye, Mom.” Shiro ended the call with a soft sigh. He loved his mother, and he was thrilled to know Reiko was all right. But wow, his mom loved to talk. That was going to make getting know Keith better more difficult. He halfway expected to not find Keith there when he returned—oh, geez, Keith really was gone!

Except while Keith was a little temperamental, it wasn’t like him to sneak off with no warning. If he had been upset at Shiro having to leave for moment, he would have let Shiro know. Which meant that something might be wrong.

Suddenly not hungry, Shiro left the money for dinner, plus tip, on the table. Then he took out his phone, and dialed Keith—except he wasn’t answering. “Strange.” He’d spoken to his mother next to the restroom door, so if Keith had been there, he would have seen him enter. Maybe he’d gone outside? That was the only explanation. Shiro stepped out, and the instant he was outside, he heard voices—specifically Keith’s voice, crying out in pain.

Acting rather than thinking, Shiro ran to the sound’s source—and found Keith on the ground, hand over his mouth. Someone tall and thin was standing over him, smiling cruelly.

“Look at you, in your little Garrison uniform.” There was no heat in the attacker’s tone. “You can dress up all you want, but you’re still no better than me—”

That was when Shiro punched him.

The attacker went down with a satisfying thud, which gave Shiro enough time to put himself between him and Keith. “Leave him **alone** ,” Shiro snarled, falling into the stance he’d learned just in case he needed to defend himself, or others.

He wouldn’t let this jerk touch Keith again.

The attacker staggered to his feet and tried to punch him, but Shiro managed to block it, then another, until he felt someone (Keith?) yank him away. Shiro was about to protest, because he couldn’t protect Keith if he was in front of him, but Keith (whose mouth was bloody, but his eyes were clear) held up an arm.

“Stay put,” Keith whispered as he guarded Shiro. Then, lightning fast, he pulled out a knife.

The attacker’s eyes widened at the sight of the weapon, but he didn’t move. “You’re hurt.”

“Yeah, but I was hurt last time I got into a knife fight with you, and I still kicked your butt. So leave before I do it again.” The attacker paused, glaring at Keith… but then said something about brats with good luck as he ran off.

“You scared him off,” Shiro breathed, because what else could he do? This was just so much to process. Just a few minutes ago, his mother was telling him about his dog having a litter. Now he was in an alley, and Keith had scared off a horrible person with a knife.

Keith carried a **knife**.

Somewhere, sirens were wailing.

“Holy crow, the cops. C’mon,” Keith grabbed Shiro’s hand, and all but dragged Shiro away from the scene.

\--

“It’s regulation.”

“Hm?”

“My knife.” They were back on campus, and Shiro was walking Keith back to his dorm, because even if Keith had proven he could manage himself, Shiro wanted to make sure he got home in one piece. Just in case. “But I think you might’ve been weirded out that I have one.”

“Maybe a little,” Shiro admitted. Although it wasn’t so much that as how it bothered him that Keith—who underneath it all really was a kind person—had ever needed to defend himself. That there had been no one else to help him. Well, that was going to change. “But why was he fighting you in the first place?”

“You mean Dwight?” Keith shrugged. “We went to grade school together. We fought a lot. You know how it is.”

Shiro didn’t, but that wasn’t the issue. “… When did you two move from fists to knives?”

“When he thought it’d be funny to get ‘revenge’ on me after I kicked his butt by breaking into my house and stealing my mom’s bracelet.”

Shiro only knew fragments of Keith’s life before they met, but he was aware that his parents had died when Keith was young, and the hurt had never really gone away. “I’m so sorry.”

Keith smiled bitterly. “I’m pretty sure he took it only because it was the one thing worth any money, but I was so sick with fury that I just grabbed my knife and… well, I got Mom’s bracelet back.” The smile was gone, but the bitterness in Keith’s expression lingered. “I don’t think she would have approved of how I got it back, though.”

Gently, in case Keith needed to pull away, Shiro wrapped an arm around him. Keith, however, leaned into him as they kept walking. “Maybe not,” Shiro admitted. “And she probably wouldn’t have liked you putting yourself in danger. But I think she would understand.”

Keith glanced at him, and there was a hint of a real smile this time. “Shockingly, Dwight was mad that I kicked his butt in front of all his friends, and I guess when he saw me, it was time for payback.”

“Hm.” Shiro held him a little closer as they reached Keith’s door. He pulled away, letting his arm move from Keith’s shoulder to squeezing Keith’s hand. “Just next time something like this happens, let me know, okay? The whole point of being together is that you have someone to rely on in tough times.”

Keith gazed up at him, eyes thoughtful, and then his lips twitched upwards again. “Okay. And, um.” He cleared his throat. “Thanks for saving my butt.”

“Anytime.” Shiro let his fingers hover over Keith’s bloody bottom lip. “I would ask if I could kiss you at this point, but I’m guessing you’re not in the mood.”

Keith shrugged. “Looks worse than it is.”

Shiro blinked. “Does that mean you do want me to kiss you?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, well, in that case…” Shiro made sure the kiss was feather light, because even if Keith said it wasn’t that bad, he didn’t want to aggravate the injury. But between the relief that Keith was okay, and Keith’s hand pressed against his back, it was still wonderful.

“Next time, I think we’ll just order a pizza,” Shiro murmured when the kiss ended. “We can marathon some sci-fi TV shows I’ve been wanting to show you.”

“Your place, next week.” He smiled at Shiro before he shut the door.

Shiro smiled himself, hands in his pockets as he walked back to his respective dorm. It had been a weird date, but it had ended well.

\--

Keith stretched, then went to get some stuff for his lip. He really didn’t care, it would heal up, but Shiro would worry.

Speaking of Shiro… Shiro, who’d just dived in and slugged Dwight, and screamed at him (since when did Shiro scream, ever?) to leave Keith alone. No one had ever done that for him before.

He appreciated it, but wow, he was glad Shiro was going to be an astronaut and not a fighter. He was well-trained and clearly fought well on his feet, but the entire time his gaze kept drifting to Keith. His heart just wasn’t in beating people up.

But as someone who used to have his heart in beating people up… Keith was very glad Shiro would never have to live that kind of life.


End file.
